Track presets in Pro Tools enable users to embed audio or MIDI clips with your preset. In this free video tutorial, Avid Application Specialist, Daniel Lovell shows you how he uses track presets to save his favourite sound effects, along with go-to routing and plug-in chains, ready to drag and drop into Pro Tools sessions as required.

When working in post-production an almost inevitable part of your workflow will be to import or create audio elements that will be used multiple times across sessions as the project continues, be it in Film, TV or advertising.

Being able to save media with your track presets, means that any commonly used asset (e.g. intro music, title effects, stings and common VO elements) can also be saved in your track preset, catalogued, and recalled in your sessions whenever you need them.

To save media with a track preset just select the Include Media tick box when saving the track preset. You can ensure you don’t unintentionally save more media than intended by restricting the included media to the clips in the current edit selection.

This will be helpful if there are other, out-of-sight media down the timeline that you don’t want to retain in your preset. Once you have stored your track presets with media, it’s easy to recall those elements into any session you might need them in the future.

One advantage of saving an FX arrangement in their separated form is that if the graphics changes you can easily retime as needed.

Creating SFX Picker Tracks

You can also use Track Presets to create SFX picker tracks. Save and catalogue your go-to whooshes, swishes, and rumbles and quickly recall them and add them to your project along with plug-ins and sends that you use regularly.

After going through thousands of different options Daniel generally lands back at the same 100 or so whooshes which he then modifies to suit the particular spot he is working on, so rather than searching and remembering, or cataloging in the workspace he can add them to a track preset called “Whooshes.” This makes it easy to import his favourite effects and means he can audition them in his session without going between multiple windows, as well as being able to locate with markers he saved along with the Track Preset.

If you find another sound or effect you can update your track preset quickly, with the naming automatically filling from other names in the track preset category you are currently in.